[1st-mile-nm] National Broadband Strategy Week

[Richard Lowenberg]

There are numerous online postings coming out about this week?s broadband
strategy meetings in DC.   Here?s one:

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National Broadband Strategy Week Begins Today, 10 a.m., in Dirksen Senate
Building

http://broadbandcensus.com/blog/?p=1098

News By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, December 2 ? A total of 55 companies and non-profit organizations,
including major corporate entities such as AT&T, Cisco Systems, Google, Intel
and Verizon Communications, have signed on to a ?call to action for a
national broadband strategy.?

The document has been crafted by a wide range of parties over the past year
under the stewardship of James Baller, senior principal of the Baller Herbst
Law Group, and the final version was released late Monday.

Verizon was a last-minute addition to the group of signatories, having joined
the list in between the first and the second public versions e-mailed by
Baller.

Among the major trade groups that signed on to the ?call to action? were the
wireless association CTIA, the Telecommunications Industry Association, and the
National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the Utilities Telecom
Council, and the Wireless Communications Associations International

Among the major non-profit groups include American Library Association,
Communications Workers of America, EDUCAUSE, Free Press, OneEconomy, Connected
Nation, Internet2, Media Access Project, the National Association of
Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, the New America Foundation and Public
Knowledge.

BroadbandCensus.com is also a signatory to the ?call to action.?

Baller released the final version in anticipation of a 10 a.m. press conference
in room G-50 of the Dirkson Senate Office Building.

?What?s most remarkable about this initiative is that so large and diverse a
group of organizations agreed not only on the terms of our call to action
statement, but also to continue to work together to build consensus on the
substance of a national broadband strategy,? Baller said in a statement.

He also said that the call to action commits its signatories ?to continue to
work together to address key issues and priorities and to hold an event to
present more specific recommendations to President Obama, Congress and the
American people.?

The ?call to action? includes general principles about the need for advanced
communications capabilities, highlights the fact that ?too many Americans
still do not have access to affordable broadband,? and sets five goals for a
comprehensive government strategy that would promote broadband.

The five goals are that (a) every American home and institution should have
access to broadband, (b) access to the Internet should be open to all users and
content providers, (c) network operators ?must have the right to manage their
networks responsibly, pursuant to clear and workable guidelines and
standards,? (d) the broadband marketplace ?should be? competitive; and
(e) U.S. broadband networks should have the performance and capacity necessary
to allow this country to be competitive in the global marketplace.

The document then outlines policies to stimulate investment, policies to
stimulate adoption and use, and measures for ?a system for regular and timely
collection and publication of data? on broadband deployment, adoption and use.


-- 
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com

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